December 10, 2005

What a brilliant comedian! I remember him as the beautiful, charming young guy who was a very frequent guest on the Merv Griffin Show back in the 60s. Then later he became the startlingly angry stand-up comedian, who was, despite all that flashing anger, always funny. There was a time in the 1970s when he was the most popular movie star. Everyone loved him.

A few years ago I saw a clip of him on the Ed Sullivan show. Must have been around 1971. He was delivering an angry anti-white, almost separatist message, a black radical message. The joke - the only joke, as I remember - was that when he came to the word "white" he would stutter. And get that fabulous nervous Richard Pryor look in his eyes. Unbelievably funny. 1971.